Monday 18 March 2013

Inequality of white and black in US

When people were born, they cannot choose whose parents or where they would like to be born. The status is always with them until they pass away. On the other hand, some people use this difference in negative ways, to look down upon them when others have different characters.

According to Wesley Stephenson's Article in "Are There More US Black Men in Prison or College?", the statistical result shows that nowadays, there are more black male college and university students than black male prisoners. However, the result is still unclear that what is the equality of white and black students in terms of attendance at top-rated universities and educational success.

This problem of racial discrimination between white and black men in US has appeared for long time. Some states in US, such as Texas, New Mexico, and Florida, have more severe than others,  In history, the white commanded the black to work, as low-costed slaves, in order to build their new land which was occupied in the colony period. The white also provided the unequal hierarchy that made them civilized, but made the black inferior. Moreover, the white also blocked those people in order to receive the social basic structure. That was one of the probable points which forced the black inferior and caused violent racial discrimination.

For me, I heard the similar circumstances in India. In India, it is called "caste", social levels that are ranked by priority, and could not be changed from lower to higher position. Furthermore, there is a general vision from both hierarchy, the US and India, that people in inferior class are always belittled and oppressed by people who is looked like superior. However, nowadays, this situation has changed in positive way. The obvious example is that Barack Obama was voted to be the US president, and the number of black prisoners has decreased continuously when compared this years and the previous five to ten years. This means that common people accept the black to be at the same level, and the black's criminal rate has decreased steadily. Nevertheless, I am not sure in India now.

From the article, when the black have accepted to be the same level, they also have the opportunity to use and receive the infrastructure as the white obtain. In terms of education, headmasters or directors of colleges or universities should give the equal and similar chance for both types of students,for instance to attend in the top-rated universities or receive scholarships if they are able. In addition, in typical, people should not judge others because of  their skin color, but they should determine from gesture, action, and perspective.
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Reference

Stephenson, W. (2013, March 17). Are there more US black men in prison or college?. BBC News Magazine. Retrieved March 18, 2013 from http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-21791038 

6 comments:

  1. One of main reasons why do people discriminate other colors people is that they believed their race are better than the other. This believe comes from natural instincts that they are exist in every mankind. Not only the color, but the nation also too, for example,Burmese or Cambodians labor in Thailand, the police officers usually suspect that they might come to Thailand illegally and they might be investigated many time, whereas other foreigner such as Americans usually don't have this problem. It might be affected from Thai people prefer people who come from developed countries to people who come from Thailand's neighborhood countries.

    It does not matter you are American or Burmese people, people should not classify other colors and nations to be lower class.

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    1. I think Bas is right that its a natural instinct to discriminate unfairly against members of other groups than your own - a good example where what is natural is seriously unjust, and what is unnatural is much better.

      And since slavery was, as Arm's clearly stated examples show, once traditional in all or almost all cultures, it is also an example that traditions passed down from our ancestors are often immoral and should be thrown out and replaced by something better.

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  2. I like your thoughtfully chosen topic. This is what we are doing in Quest and your article can help me practice vocabularies needed in the lesson.

    Your post reminds me about slavery in ancient Thai traditions. Our ancestor did not classify people by their skin colors, but by their birth status. A child who born with slavish mother had to be a slave. Thai ancient social system seemed to be more like India's more than the US's.

    Racism today looks less serious than the past. However, there are some racism existing in even online media. For example, in many youtube clips related to Asian people, there are comments like "Shut up, Asians. You're such an idiot." I am curious why ethnic matter some American people so much and why do they have to judge people from where they were born.

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  3. I think both Bas and Peter are right also point out the clearly example but I still have some more example about inequality in Thailand, althought we are almost Thai but we have been separeted by social rank such as "lo-so and hi-so" and who very rich are above the law so whenever,those people do somethings illegal, crimical or murder, they are never ever punished. I really appreciate that our King Rama5 had canceled slavery in Thailand which eliminate the gab between people in our social.This system might be the cause of discrimination in US as in they bought black people to work, as low costed slave like in Thailand,too, but we used Thai villagers at those day, free as slave in an aristrocrat family so it leads to driminate between Thai social until now. These reason might support that why some Thai people always look down at Burmese,Low people ,or Cambodian because they believe that they are higher in coutries rank.

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  4. I think societies we live in today shape our thoughts. Societies dominant people to set the rules that we usually follow whether they're good things to do or not. It happens everywhere in our world like Bas post. Youtube, for example, can easily see racism. Some people look down even language!

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    1. Children, I think, are particularly prone to unjust discrimination against those who are different. I remember when I was in primary school that we tended to be very nasty to children who came from different economic backgrounds, who spoke differently, or who were black.

      By high school, we were a bit more civilised. It could be that that was largely cultural, but I think it's more basic, that it's something natural built into our genes that decent people have to go against.

      What do you think William Golding thinks on these questions?

      Delete

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